“Never say that again,” Viv demanded, voice full of her natural dominance.
“The skull-crusher part or the cuddle-monster part?”
“Maybe both of them together,” Micah suggested. “And I don’t think you could crack a skull.”
“Hey!”
“I mean, you wouldn’t unless you had to,” Micah amended.
“I don’t mind a good brawl, but yeah, I try to leave skulls uncrushed. Unless someone hurt you guys. Then it’s no holds barred, all skulls crushed.”
Micah went tense again. “You don’t need to protect me. I’m fine.”
“Right now, yeah. ’Cause the cuddle monster’s got you,” Sasha teased, turning as if he were a monster tackling Micah to eat him.
“What—” Micah yelped and shoved at Sasha’s shoulder as Sasha pinned him, but through the spill of Micah’s long hair, Sasha could see a smile. “I agreed to the petting, not this.”
Sasha shivered at the dominance in Micah’s tone, and he immediately sat back. As much as he teased about perseverance and sticking with a plan, he’d never force his attentions on anyone. And he liked how Micah’s dominance felt, different from Viv’s but equally arousing.
Micah looked abashed as he pushed his hair out of his face. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
“Don’t apologize. He’s just being a puppy,” Viv murmured, leaning closer. Sasha noticed she’d marked her place in her book and put it aside, clearly more interested in couch shenanigans than whatever was happening on the pages.
“I didn’t… mind,” Micah said, slowly, like he was figuring something out. “I’m just not used to it.”
“You wanna?” Sasha tilted his head. “I can definitely get you used to wrestling on the couch.”
“Sasha,” Viv said with a choked laugh.
Micah looked startled, and then heblushed. “I think the, uh. Cuddling. That’s good for now.” He shifted and pressed up next to Sasha, then peered around him at Viv. “You don’t mind?”
“You’ve seen how much of him there is, right? I’m small. I don’t need all of him; I can share.”
Sasha was the one shifting now, because it turned out that being discussed like athingwas doing it for him. But he concentrated on getting them both in the optimal cuddling positions, so he could pet their hair and provide body heat and all that good, old-fashioned human comfort.
It was strange, really, how easy it was to have Micah on his other side. Sort of like he and Viv had been waiting all along for someone to take that third seat as their own. Huh.
Viv fell asleep there, breathing softly, and Micah was so still that Sasha thought he mustbe asleep, too. But when he looked, he saw Micah was staring at the fire, eyes open, as if he were trying to make himself stay awake.
Warmth rushed over Sasha, and it wasn’t from the fire or the heat of Viv and Micah next to him. It was the same sort of thing he felt when he saw Viv lovingly making him leather gloves to pummel a log with in practice for his fights. Or how she’d looked the first time he’d brought her off with his mouth, the way she’d clung to his shoulders and laughed, calling him “good boy” and saying, “Don’t ever stop doing that.”He liked this: being there for both of them. If the fire got too low, he’d go out and chop some wood, make it warm again, like he was warm.
“It’s okay,” Sasha said, his voice as quiet as it ever got. He stroked Micah’s hair some more, gently. “You can fall asleep. I’ll stay here. It’s a comfy couch.”
Micah didn’t say anything, but whatever lingering tension was in his body seemed to drain away. He melted against Sasha and closed his eyes, and Sasha sat there, stroking their hair and holding them close while the fire burned down in the hearth and the storm faded outside, until he, too, fell asleep.
* * *
Viv woke with an ache in her bones that wouldn’t go away, even when Micah made a hot floral drink to go with a breakfast of stuffed snow leaves. The snow leaves were Sasha’s: the skin of a white plant that grew in the caves, thick and mildly sweet, which he wrapped around eggs before dipping the bundles in a pot of spiced, boiling water. Micah ate only the egg until he saw Sasha tearing into the leaves as well, and Viv wrapped her healing blanket around herself, trying to focus on the way Micah smiled when Sasha licked his own fingers clean.
“He’s a little feral, but he’s useful,” Viv told Micah, and Sasha beamed at her.
“I thought you foraged in the mornings, though.”
“Yeah, well.” Sasha shrugged. “You made her breakfast yesterday.”
“So he wanted to show off,” Viv mock-whispered. Micah flashed her another brief, nervous smile. He was a lot like Zev in that way. Zev’s smiles always used to fade quickly, as if he was afraid someone would tell him off for them. When they were young, she’d wanted to hold his cheeks up andmakehim smile, but now he didn’t need the reminder. He was quicker to laugh now.
She hoped Micah might get there one day, too.
